A photo is projected onto a screen and offered as evidence from Skakel's legal team claiming it was taken of Skakel when he was 15-years-old. Skakel's legal team asked why this photo was not offered as evidence in Skakel's 2002 defense.
Photo: Jason Rearick

Michael Skakel, center, looks on as his defense attorneys Jessica Santos, left, and Hubert Santos talk to one another at Skakel's habeas corpus hearing at State Superior Court in Rockville, Conn., on Tuesday, April 16, 2013.
Photo: Jason Rearick

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Testimony highlights:Fingers pointed at Skakel's brother Thomas and live-in tutor Kenneth Littleton as possible suspects.Sherman earned $2.2 million to defend Skakel.'Mesmerized' Sherman got Oscar tickets from Tina Brown.Team Skakel raised Sherman's guilty plea for tax evasion.Sherman to be back on the stand for more in the morning.

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VERNON -- Estranged from his former client Michael Skakel -- the Kennedy cousin serving 20 years to life in prison for the 1975 slaying of Greenwich teenager Martha Moxley -- celebrity lawyer Mickey Sherman mounted a different kind of defense than he is accustomed to Tuesday.

On the opening day of Skakel's civil trial, Sherman defended himself under oath against allegations of legal malpractice in the murder case that has come to define his career.

From juror selection to the omission of evidence about other suspects -- including Skakel's own brother -- to his frequent television appearances, Sherman endured more than five hours of grueling questioning about his handling of the 2002 criminal defense and even his own prison term for tax evasion from Skakel's current legal team.

Sherman's competence is central to a habeas corpus petition that current Skakel lawyer Hubert Santos filed with the state Superior Court in Vernon in the latest bid to free the 52-year-old nephew of Robert F. Kennedy's widow, Ethel Skakel Kennedy.

In one of the most animated exchanges between Sherman and the lawyer who replaced him, Santos argued that Sherman was showboating when he should have been preparing witnesses and doing his due diligence.

"You spent a lot of time talking to reporters," Santos said.

"It's the nature of a big case," Sherman answered.

His reply led to a barrage of criticism from Santos, who highlighted that Sherman was paid $2.2 million to defend Skakel.

"Did you get tickets to the Academy Awards?" Santos said.

Sherman acknowledged that Tina Brown, the former editor of Vanity Fair, which covered the Kennedy connection to the murder extensively, hooked him up with an Oscars invite.

"The real claim here is that Mr. Sherman was so mesmerized by the media frenzy in this case that instead of doing certain fundamental things like talking to witnesses, he got sucked into the whole thing," Santos said.

A habeas corpus petition is often used as a last resort when trying to overturn a conviction.

The latest act of the long-running courtroom drama is playing out 15 minutes northeast of Hartford in Rockville, a sleepy hamlet that is part of the town of Vernon and is where all habeas corpus cases in the state are adjudicated.

Skakel, who is imprisoned at MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institute in Suffield, changed into a charcoal-colored suit and white starched shirt for the first day of the trial. His next parole hearing is not until 2017.

Rarely did Skakel deviate from his poker face during the inquisition of Sherman, which is scheduled to resume Wednesday morning.

Had they been privy to the details, jurors would have learned that witnesses saw the Skakel sibling and Moxley engaged in mutual masturbation on the night of Oct. 30, 1975, just before Moxley was bludgeoned with a golf club and dragged into her family's Belle Haven yard, Santos said.

Santos wondered why Sherman did not key in more on Kenneth Littleton, the Skakels' live-in tutor, as a suspect.

He faulted his predecessor for not presenting a sketch of a suspect bearing a resemblance to Littleton that he said was based on an eyewitness description given by Belle Haven security guard Charles Morganti Jr.

Santos questioned why Sherman was not more aggressive in profiling Littleton for the jurors and exploring the theory that Littleton might have been linked to 13 other murders.

"I was not a big fan of trying to make the case that Mr. Littleton was a mass or serial killer," Sherman answered.

Skakel's legal team has also filed a habeas corpus petition in federal court, an action that is on hold until state Appellate Court Judge Thomas Bishop renders a decision in the ongoing trial.

Hammering at Sherman, Santos second-guessed the choice of a police officer and a Moxley family friend as two of the jurors in the murder case, saying that Sherman was so confident in his defense that he risked having them included on the panel despite misgivings by Skakel.

Sherman said he couldn't recall any objections by Skakel, who shook his head during that part of the testimony.

"I thought they were good jurors," Sherman said.

Sherman was also taken to task for not seeking a change in venue in the nationally watched trial, which Santos said generated a highly damaging buzz from New York City tabloids.

Sherman said he was concerned that the wealthy background of his client and reputation of Greenwich wouldn't play well in another judicial district in Connecticut.

"So you deliberately made a judgment not to move for a change of venue?" Santos said.

Santos even referenced Sherman's guilty plea and one-year prison term for tax evasion.